Gračanica

Gračanica Gračanice, kad bar ne bi bila od kamena,

kad bi se mogla na nebesa vazneti,

ko Bogorodice Mileševe i Sopoćana,

da tuđa ruka kraj tebe travu ne plevi,

da ti vrane ne hodaju po paperti.

Ili tvoja zvona da bar ne tuku

kao srca predaka, Gračanice,

ili bar da svetitelji s tvog ikonostasa

nemaju naših neimara ruku,

ni anđeli Simonidino lice.

Da bar nisi toliko duboko

ukopana u tu zemlju i nas same

da se nismo privikli u tebe kleti,

Gračanice, kad bar ne bi bila od kamena,

kad bi se mogla u visine uzneti

Gračanice, da si nam bar jabuka,

da te možemo staviti u nedra

i zagrejati tako studenu od starosti,

da nam bar poljima oko tebe nisu

predaka divnih rasejane kosti.

Da te bar možemo podići na Taru,

u Kalenićku portu te preneti,

zaboraviti likove po tvom oltaru.

Gračanice, kad bar ne bi bila od kamena,

kad bi se mogla na nebesa vazneti.

Gračanica

If only you were not made of stone, Gracanica,

if only you could ascend to the sky like

the Virgins of Mileseva and Sopocani,

then crows might not walk about your narthex

and alien hands weed the grass nearby.

Or if your bells, Gracanica, did not beat

like our forefathers' hearts,

if only the saints on your iconostasis

did not have our builders' arms and feet

or your angels Simonida's face.

If only you were not sunk so deep

in that soil and in our very selves

if you were not to us a name to swear by

if only you were not made of stone, Gracanica,

if only you could be lifted up high.

If only you were an apple, Gracanica,

that we might put you in our bosom

and warm you, cold with age as you are,

if only our long-gone forefathers' bones

were not scattered about you near and far.

If only we could lift you on to Mount Tara

or move you to the churchyard of Kalenic, or try

to forget the faces painted on your altar,

if only you were not made of stone, Gracanica,

if only you could ascend to the sky.

(Translated by Vlada Stojiljkovic)